Dave, don't try that at home! :-)In Roger Waters' The Pros And Cons Of Hitchhiking we here him saying: "Hello...ya wanna cup coffee? [...] I'm sorry, would you like a cup of coffee?"I think it's just a matter of how much one has got sleep the night before. Some people don't wanna speak too much so they use the of-free version of "couple of X."

Why is "couple of X" grammatically correct? What is the logic? And if "of" should be inserted after couple, then why not after "few or "several?" A few of things? A several of things? "A couple of things" sounds pretentious to me -- "of" is an extra word that has no use. I say drop it.

Use "couple of" if you assume couple to be a noun, such as pair: "a couple of apples" or "a pair of apples." Drop the "of" if you assume "couple" to be an adjective, such as few: "a couple apples" or "a few apples."

The adjective use of a couple, without of, has been called nonstandard, but it is not. In both British and American English it is standard before a word (as more or less) indicating degree <a couple more examples of Middle English writing — Charles Barber>. Its use before an ordinary plural noun is an Americanism, common in speech and in writing that is not meant to be formal or elevated <the first couple chapters are pretty good — E. B. White (letter)> <still operated a couple wagons for hire — Garrison Keillor>. It is most frequently used with periods of time <a couple weeks> and numbers <a couple hundred> <a couple dozen>.

Since "couple" is a noun, as already indicated, it is more correct to use it with "of" before another noun. But if it going to devolve into "a couple" & schwa, (comparable to "gonna" and "tuh" [to]) better to accept the less correct form.

What a lot of annoying prescriptivists here. Yuck. Anecdotal explanations of linguistics and language use lead only to perpetuation of outmoded and simply incorrect ways of perceiving and understanding how language works and develops (note that word, quite the opposite of "devolves").

@ElktoothChain - My idea of descriptivism is that you make your case and support it with examples, not simply insult people and talk down to them. And perhaps say something specifically relevant to the topic.

"A couple of x" is definitely correct; omitting "of" is just one more of countless examples of our "progressively" more illiterate society where what once would have been red lined in grade school is now sadly found in the NY Times, once our nation's leading newspaper, now it's leading laughingstock.

Think of all the apples in the world. You just want two apples. So you choose "a couple of" them. That's how I see it. Perhaps some people confuse "a couple apples" with "a few apples." Interesting how they do get "few" right: No one says, "a few of apples." Seems people should be able to keep the two separate without using up too much brain power.

They also omit the word on in lots of situations."I went to the bank Wednesday..."Or "The incident happened last week Tuesday... " (pronounced "toozday" if course). The only version I've ever heard in Britain would be along the lines of "let's meet up Thursday" instead of "let's meet up on Thursday"

This little gem from AP:-"The Democratic governor said Friday Van Houten's "inability to explain her willing participation in such horrific violence" leads him to believe she remains an unreasonable risk to society."is a fine example of how the omission of punctuation, prepositions, and conjunctions, can lead to confusion.Another downside to Mercan English.

Can't help comparing "couple" with "dozen," as in "I bought a dozen eggs and used a couple of eggs to make an omelet." I've learned that in very old English the usage was "a dozen of eggs," plain weird since the "of" was long ago dropped. "Couple of" is compulsive for me, though some argue "couple" can be a noun (pair) or an adjective (approximately two).